Computerized system and method for optimizing delivery of digital messages

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are systems and methods for improving interactions with and between computers in content providing, searching and/or hosting systems supported by or configured with devices, servers and/or platforms. The disclosed systems and methods provide a framework for delivering electronic messages to a recipient in an optimized manner based on current real-world and digital activities associated with the recipient. Once a message sent by a sender is received by the message platform, the message and information related to a user&#39;s activity is analyzed, and a delivery condition is determined by the messaging platform. The platform then sends the message according to that delivery condition, such that it is delivered to the user only upon the platform relaying the message thereon when the condition is satisfied or occurs.

This patent application claims the benefit of and is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/370,909, filed Mar. 30, 2019, whichis incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

This application includes material that is subject to copyrightprotection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimilereproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in thePatent and Trademark Office files or records, but otherwise reserves allcopyright rights whatsoever.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to improving the performance ofnetwork based computerized content hosting and providing devices,systems and/or platforms by modifying the capabilities and providingnon-native functionality to such devices, systems and/or platformsthrough a novel and improved framework for a messaging platform tooptimize delivery messages to a recipient based on proprietary user datahosted by the messaging platform.

BACKGROUND

Entities that send electronic mail (email) to users want those messagesto be opened by those users. However, many of these emails are neveropened, and they are often deleted without the recipient user everseeing what is included in the received message.

Some conventional systems enable senders of emails to set the time, dateand/or place when specific messages are delivered to recipient users.This a form of traditional “conditional delivery” of messages. Forexample, a sender may want a recipient to receive a message in fourhours. In this case, for example, the sender drafts and sends themessage to the user, which is received and held by a messaging server,and then is only delivered to the recipient after four hours has passed.However, these forms of message delivery are strictly based oninstructions set by the sender.

In some situations, the sender may be privy to data about the recipientuser, which can be provided by a messaging platform. For example, if thesender is a third party advertiser (or marketer), the sender may receivesuggested times, dates or locations about a user, which the sender canleverage in order to ensure that their content is received at allegedopportune times, dates or locations. Again, the messages being sent aredelivered based solely on sender provided instructions.

Moreover, in addition to the privacy concerns with third partiesreceiving and being granted access to user's data, these types ofsystems are not solving the current problems with email overload andfatigue that many systems are currently facing. That is, as the usage ofemail has become ubiquitous for both personal and commercial reasons, anincreasing array of alternative sending methods are being used, whichare simply leading users to delete the messages from “not known” sendersin bulk. Even when the senders are receiving user data about the users,this data is not up-to-date (or current), nor is it the complete pictureof a user's online and real-world persona or activity. Thus, presentsystems are sub-optimal.

SUMMARY

There is a need for a message delivery system that relies on and/orimplements conditional message delivery functionality from thestandpoint of the messaging server, platform or host, such that thedelivery can be optimized according to both the recipient user's andsending user's standpoint. The disclosed systems and methods provide atechnical solution to such existing technical problems, especially thosehighlighted above, by providing a novel framework for deliveringelectronic messages to a recipient in an optimized manner based oncurrent real-world and digital activities associated with the recipient.

According to some embodiments, rather than having the sender set theconditions for a message's delivery, as in conventional systems, thedisclosed framework relies upon the messaging platform to determine whenis the opportune moment for a message to be delivered. Allowing amessaging platform (or messaging provider and/or client softwarepublisher, like for example, Verizon® or Google®) to understand the besttiming to deliver a communicated message will result in the most optimalopen-rate, as the platform can leverage a number of factors that are notknown to the message sender. In some embodiments, the messaging platformcan charge a sender a fee for optimized delivery, as the open-rate ofthese types of messages will increase.

Therefore, the disclosed systems and methods reliance on a messageplatform's (e.g., message server) functionality to determine when amessage should be delivered has many technical benefits. First, andpossibly foremost, recipient users' privacy levels are fully maintained,as senders will not be provided access to their data for purposes ofsending messages. Further, while users can receive the same amount ofmessages (e.g., no more or less), they will receive them at differenttimes, which will lead to more opportunities for them to discern theirimportance (e.g., open them and then act accordingly). And, while asender can pay for an improved delivery scheme, their delivery rateremains unchanged.

As discussed herein, reference to “messages” can be any type of messagethat is receivable within any known or to be known messaging or emailsystem. For purposes of this disclosure, reference will be made toelectronic mail (email); however, it should not be construed aslimiting, as any form of messages can be utilized without departing fromthe scope of the instant disclosure. The message content comprisedwithin such messages can be any type of message content, such as, butnot limited to, text, audio, video, graphics interchange format (GIF)files, digital advertisements, and/or any other type of known or to beknown multimedia, or some combination thereof.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, the instant disclosureprovides computerized methods for a novel framework for deliveringelectronic messages to a recipient in an optimized manner based oncurrent real-world and digital activities associated with the recipient.In accordance with one or more embodiments, the instant disclosureprovides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for carryingout the above mentioned technical steps of the framework'sfunctionality. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium hastangibly stored thereon, or tangibly encoded thereon, computer readableinstructions that when executed by a device (e.g., application server,email server, ad server, content server and/or client device, and thelike) cause at least one processor to perform a method for a novel andimproved framework for delivering electronic messages to a recipient inan optimized manner based on current real-world and digital activitiesassociated with the recipient.

In accordance with one or more embodiments, a system is provided thatcomprises one or more computing devices configured to providefunctionality in accordance with such embodiments. In accordance withone or more embodiments, functionality is embodied in steps of a methodperformed by at least one computing device. In accordance with one ormore embodiments, program code (or program logic) executed by aprocessor(s) of a computing device to implement functionality inaccordance with one or more such embodiments is embodied in, by and/oron a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of thedisclosure will be apparent from the following description ofembodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichreference characters refer to the same parts throughout the variousviews. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead beingplaced upon illustrating principles of the disclosure:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a networkwithin which the systems and methods disclosed herein could beimplemented according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 depicts is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of clientdevice in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating components of an exemplary systemin accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating components of an exemplarysystem in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary data flow inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, andwhich show, by way of non-limiting illustration, certain exampleembodiments. Subject matter may, however, be embodied in a variety ofdifferent forms and, therefore, covered or claimed subject matter isintended to be construed as not being limited to any example embodimentsset forth herein; example embodiments are provided merely to beillustrative. Likewise, a reasonably broad scope for claimed or coveredsubject matter is intended. Among other things, for example, subjectmatter may be embodied as methods, devices, components, or systems.Accordingly, embodiments may, for example, take the form of hardware,software, firmware or any combination thereof (other than software perse). The following detailed description is, therefore, not intended tobe taken in a limiting sense.

Throughout the specification and claims, terms may have nuanced meaningssuggested or implied in context beyond an explicitly stated meaning.Likewise, the phrase “in one embodiment” as used herein does notnecessarily refer to the same embodiment and the phrase “in anotherembodiment” as used herein does not necessarily refer to a differentembodiment. It is intended, for example, that claimed subject matterinclude combinations of example embodiments in whole or in part.

In general, terminology may be understood at least in part from usage incontext. For example, terms, such as “and”, “or”, or “and/or,” as usedherein may include a variety of meanings that may depend at least inpart upon the context in which such terms are used. Typically, “or” ifused to associate a list, such as A, B or C, is intended to mean A, B,and C, here used in the inclusive sense, as well as A, B or C, here usedin the exclusive sense. In addition, the term “one or more” as usedherein, depending at least in part upon context, may be used to describeany feature, structure, or characteristic in a singular sense or may beused to describe combinations of features, structures or characteristicsin a plural sense. Similarly, terms, such as “a,” “an,” or “the,” again,may be understood to convey a singular usage or to convey a pluralusage, depending at least in part upon context. In addition, the term“based on” may be understood as not necessarily intended to convey anexclusive set of factors and may, instead, allow for existence ofadditional factors not necessarily expressly described, again, dependingat least in part on context.

The present disclosure is described below with reference to blockdiagrams and operational illustrations of methods and devices. It isunderstood that each block of the block diagrams or operationalillustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams oroperational illustrations, can be implemented by means of analog ordigital hardware and computer program instructions. These computerprogram instructions can be provided to a processor of a general purposecomputer to alter its function as detailed herein, a special purposecomputer, ASIC, or other programmable data processing apparatus, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, implement thefunctions/acts specified in the block diagrams or operational block orblocks. In some alternate implementations, the functions/acts noted inthe blocks can occur out of the order noted in the operationalillustrations. For example, two blocks shown in succession can in factbe executed substantially concurrently or the blocks can sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/actsinvolved.

For the purposes of this disclosure a non-transitory computer readablemedium (or computer-readable storage medium/media) stores computer data,which data can include computer program code (or computer-executableinstructions) that is executable by a computer, in machine readableform. By way of example, and not limitation, a computer readable mediummay comprise computer readable storage media, for tangible or fixedstorage of data, or communication media for transient interpretation ofcode-containing signals. Computer readable storage media, as usedherein, refers to physical or tangible storage (as opposed to signals)and includes without limitation volatile and non-volatile, removable andnon-removable media implemented in any method or technology for thetangible storage of information such as computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules or other data. Computer readablestorage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM,flash memory or other solid state memory technology, CD-ROM, DVD, orother optical storage, cloud storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any otherphysical or material medium which can be used to tangibly store thedesired information or data or instructions and which can be accessed bya computer or processor.

For the purposes of this disclosure the term “server” should beunderstood to refer to a service point which provides processing,database, and communication facilities. By way of example, and notlimitation, the term “server” can refer to a single, physical processorwith associated communications and data storage and database facilities,or it can refer to a networked or clustered complex of processors andassociated network and storage devices, as well as operating softwareand one or more database systems and application software that supportthe services provided by the server. Cloud servers are examples.

For the purposes of this disclosure a “network” should be understood torefer to a network that may couple devices so that communications may beexchanged, such as between a server and a client device or other typesof devices, including between wireless devices coupled via a wirelessnetwork, for example. A network may also include mass storage, such asnetwork attached storage (NAS), a storage area network (SAN), a contentdelivery network (CDN) or other forms of computer or machine readablemedia, for example. A network may include the Internet, one or morelocal area networks (LANs), one or more wide area networks (WANs),wire-line type connections, wireless type connections, cellular or anycombination thereof. Likewise, sub-networks, which may employ differingarchitectures or may be compliant or compatible with differingprotocols, may interoperate within a larger network.

For purposes of this disclosure, a “wireless network” should beunderstood to couple client devices with a network. A wireless networkmay employ stand-alone ad-hoc networks, mesh networks, Wireless LAN(WLAN) networks, cellular networks, or the like. A wireless network mayfurther employ a plurality of network access technologies, includingWi-Fi, Long Term Evolution (LTE), WLAN, Wireless Router (WR) mesh, or2nd, 3rd, 4^(th) or 5^(th) generation (2G, 3G, 4G or 5G) cellulartechnology, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g/n, or the like. Network accesstechnologies may enable wide area coverage for devices, such as clientdevices with varying degrees of mobility, for example.

In short, a wireless network may include virtually any type of wirelesscommunication mechanism by which signals may be communicated betweendevices, such as a client device or a computing device, between orwithin a network, or the like.

A computing device may be capable of sending or receiving signals, suchas via a wired or wireless network, or may be capable of processing orstoring signals, such as in memory as physical memory states, and may,therefore, operate as a server. Thus, devices capable of operating as aserver may include, as examples, dedicated rack-mounted servers, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, set top boxes, integrated devices combiningvarious features, such as two or more features of the foregoing devices,or the like.

For purposes of this disclosure, a client (or consumer or user) devicemay include a computing device capable of sending or receiving signals,such as via a wired or a wireless network. A client device may, forexample, include a desktop computer or a portable device, such as acellular telephone, a smart phone, a display pager, a radio frequency(RF) device, an infrared (IR) device an Near Field Communication (NFC)device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld computer, atablet computer, a phablet, a laptop computer, a set top box, a wearablecomputer, smart watch, an integrated or distributed device combiningvarious features, such as features of the forgoing devices, or the like.

A client device may vary in terms of capabilities or features. Claimedsubject matter is intended to cover a wide range of potentialvariations, such as a web-enabled client device or previously mentioneddevices may include a high-resolution screen (HD or 4K for example), oneor more physical or virtual keyboards, mass storage, one or moreaccelerometers, one or more gyroscopes, global positioning system (GPS)or other location-identifying type capability, or a display with a highdegree of functionality, such as a touch-sensitive color 2D or 3Ddisplay, for example.

As discussed herein, reference to an “advertisement” should beunderstood to include, but not be limited to, digital media contentembodied as a media item that provides information provided by anotheruser, service, third party, entity, and the like. Such digital adcontent can include any type of known or to be known media renderable bya computing device, including, but not limited to, video, text, audio,images, and/or any other type of known or to be known multi-media itemor object. In some embodiments, the digital ad content can be formattedas hyperlinked multi-media content that provides deep-linking featuresand/or capabilities. Therefore, while some content is referred to as anadvertisement, it is still a digital media item that is renderable by acomputing device, and such digital media item comprises content relayingpromotional content provided by a network associated party.

The principles described herein may be embodied in many different forms.The instant disclosure provides improved systems and methods forprocessing and delivering messages in an optimized manner via amessaging system. The disclosed systems and methods provide for amessage sent by a sender to be delivered according to conditionsdetermined by the messaging platform being used to send the message.This enables the platform to unilaterally determine when, where and howthe message is delivered to the recipient.

According to embodiments of the instant disclosure, when a message issent to a recipient over a messaging platform, the message platform'sserver (e.g., messaging server 120, as in FIG. 1 ) receives the messagefrom the sender and determines a context of the message. The server thenanalyzes user data about the recipient that is proprietary to theplatform. The analysis that occurs involves determining a deliverycondition(s) for the message based on real-world and digital activitiesof the recipient (e.g., derived or identified from the recipient's userdata) that corresponds to the context of the message. This enables theserver to determine when is the optimal timing for the message'sdelivery to the recipient. The message is stored in a datastore (ordatabase) associated with the server until its ultimate delivery to therecipient, which occurs when the delivery condition(s) is satisfied.

Thus, rather than a sender setting conditions for a message's delivery,as in conventional systems, the disclosed framework providesfunctionality to the messaging server handling the delivery of themessages to dictate when, where and how such messages are delivered to arecipient's inbox.

According to some embodiments, the user data the messaging serverleverages in order to determine the optimal timing of a message'sdelivery is based on information that is determined, identified, derivedand/or hosted by the server's platform. For example, a messaging serverfor email provider Yahoo! Mail® can host information indicating a user'spast, present and/or future real-world and virtual (e.g., digital)information, which can be stored in an associated database (e.g.,database 320, as discussed below). Such information can include, but isnot limited to, biographical information, demographic information, whichapplications the user is using on his/her device(s), types and/or timingof a user's online and/or real-world behavior (e.g., when a user istypically on his/her device and therefore more likely to see newincoming messages), and the like, as discussed below in FIGS. 3 and 4 .

By way of a non-limiting example, according to some embodiments of thepresent disclosure, sender X is a marketer specializing in providingusers with promotions for electronic equipment (e.g., TVs, appliancesand the like). Sender X wants to send user Y an email indicating thatBlack Friday deals at store Z begin on 6 pm Thanksgiving Day. Sender Xsends the email on the Monday of Thanksgiving week.

According to some embodiments of the instant disclosure, the messagingserver receives this message from sender Y. Upon reception by theserver, the message is analyzed and the context of the message isdetermined. The context indicating, for example, “Black Friday deals forelectronic appliances.”

The server, upon receiving the message and determining the context,analyzes the user data of user Y, which as discussed above, is hosted bythe platform the server is operating (e.g., Yahoo! Mail® platform). Theuser data indicates user Y's biographic, demographic, and real-world anddigital behaviors. The server analyzes this information based on thecontext of the message, and determines that the optimal time to deliverthe message to the user is the morning of Thanksgiving Day at 9 am(e.g., where the time of day is typically when a user opens his mail appon days she is off from work).

For example, the server identifies that user Y is travelling to/from theairport the day prior to Thanksgiving Day to pick up relatives—this isactivity is derived from emails in the user's inbox and the user'scalendar information—therefore, delivery of the message on the daybefore Thanksgiving Day would most likely lead to the user notreading/seeing this email.

The server then stores the message in storage for later delivery, andsuch storage can involve annotating the storage of the message with acondition value that indicates when delivery is to be triggered.Therefore, when the morning of Thanksgiving Day arrives (e.g., 9 am onNov. 28, 2019), the message is located in storage, retrieved and thendelivered to an inbox of user Y. In some embodiments, the message can bedelivered after a predetermined lag time—for example, 1 second after themail app is opened on Thanksgiving Day, so that the user is actuallyviewing his/her inbox as the message is populated within the inbox.

According to some embodiments, the disclosed systems and methods can beperformed for only senders (e.g., marketers, advertisers or other formsof third parties) that are authenticated with the messaging platform.That is, only senders that have a confirmed subscription status canutilize the capabilities of having the platform conditionally deliverymessages for the sender according to the disclosed capabilities. In someembodiments, the subscription status can be based on a recipientsubscribing to a sender, and in some embodiments, the subscriptionstatus can be based on the sender subscribing to the delivery servicebeing provided by the email platform.

According to some embodiments, the disclosed framework safeguardsagainst recipient user's receiving too many marketing emails at the sametime, or within the same time period. For example, a set of messages aredetermined to have the same optimal delivery timing; however, the numberof messages in the set is more than an assigned threshold set by theplatform. Therefore, the platform can adjust a sub-set of messages'timing so that the user is not receiving more than a threshold number ofmarketing messages at a specific time, or during a timing window.

In some embodiments, even though user data is not being provided to thethird party senders, the messaging platform may provide the sendersinformation indicating analytics about message open rates, which canindicate delivery methods for messages (e.g., delivered while a user wasin his/her inbox, delivered while a user was in his/her mail app,delivered while a user was on his/her device, delivered at a specifictime, and the like).

In some embodiments, as discussed below, a marketer's email typicallyincludes information indicating a date or date range by which a sentemail is requested to be sent to a recipient. In some embodiments,should the disclosed framework determine that the optimal time to sendthe message to the recipient be outside the sender's requested window,then the message will be set to be sent at the end of the date rangeprovided by the sender.

As discussed in more detail below at least in relation to FIG. 5 ,according to some embodiments, information associated with, derivedfrom, or otherwise identified from, during or as a result of the messagedelivery, as discussed herein, can be used for monetization purposes andtargeted advertising when providing, delivering or enabling such devicesaccess to content or services over a network. Providing targetedadvertising to users associated with such discovered content can lead toan increased click-through rate (CTR) of such ads and/or an increase inthe advertiser's return on investment (ROI) for serving such contentprovided by third parties (e.g., digital advertisement content providedby an advertiser, where the advertiser can be a third party advertiser,or an entity directly associated with or hosting the systems and methodsdiscussed herein).

Certain embodiments will now be described in greater detail withreference to the figures. In general, with reference to FIG. 1 , asystem 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure isshown. FIG. 1 shows components of a general environment in which thesystems and methods discussed herein may be practiced. Not all thecomponents may be required to practice the disclosure, and variations inthe arrangement and type of the components may be made without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the disclosure. As shown, system 100 of FIG.1 includes local area networks (“LANs”)/wide area networks(“WANs”)—network 105, wireless network 110, mobile devices (clientdevices) 102-104 and client device 101. FIG. 1 additionally includes avariety of servers, such as content server 106, application (or “App”)server 108, message server 120 and third party server 130.

One embodiment of mobile devices 102-104 may include virtually anyportable computing device capable of receiving and sending a messageover a network, such as network 105, wireless network 110, or the like.Mobile devices 102-104 may also be described generally as client devicesthat are configured to be portable. Thus, mobile devices 102-104 mayinclude virtually any portable computing device capable of connecting toanother computing device and receiving information, as discussed above.

Mobile devices 102-104 also may include at least one client applicationthat is configured to receive content from another computing device. Insome embodiments, mobile devices 102-104 may also communicate withnon-mobile client devices, such as client device 101, or the like. Inone embodiment, such communications may include sending and/or receivingmessages, searching for, viewing and/or sharing photographs, digitalimages, audio clips, video clips, or any of a variety of other forms ofcommunications.

Client devices 101-104 may be capable of sending or receiving signals,such as via a wired or wireless network, or may be capable of processingor storing signals, such as in memory as physical memory states, andmay, therefore, operate as a server.

Wireless network 110 is configured to couple mobile devices 102-104 andits components with network 105. Wireless network 110 may include any ofa variety of wireless sub-networks that may further overlay stand-alonead-hoc networks, and the like, to provide an infrastructure-orientedconnection for mobile devices 102-104.

Network 105 is configured to couple content server 106, applicationserver 108, or the like, with other computing devices, including, clientdevice 101, and through wireless network 110 to mobile devices 102-104.Network 105 is enabled to employ any form of computer readable media ornetwork for communicating information from one electronic device toanother.

The content server 106 may include a device that includes aconfiguration to provide any type or form of content via a network toanother device. Devices that may operate as content server 106 includepersonal computers desktop computers, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,servers, and the like. Content server 106 can further provide a varietyof services that include, but are not limited to, email services,instant messaging (IM) services, streaming and/or downloading mediaservices, search services, photo services, web services, socialnetworking services, news services, third-party services, audioservices, video services, SMS services, MMS services, FTP services,voice over IP (VOIP) services, or the like. Such services, for examplethe email services and email platform, can be provided via the messageserver 120.

Third party server 130 can comprise a server that stores onlineadvertisements for presentation to users. “Ad serving” refers to methodsused to place online advertisements on websites, in applications, orother places where users are more likely to see them, such as during anonline session or during computing platform use, for example. Variousmonetization techniques or models may be used in connection withsponsored advertising, including advertising associated with user data.Such sponsored advertising includes monetization techniques includingsponsored search advertising, non-sponsored search advertising,guaranteed and non-guaranteed delivery advertising, adnetworks/exchanges, ad targeting, ad serving and ad analytics. Suchsystems can incorporate near instantaneous auctions of ad placementopportunities during web page creation, (in some cases in less than 500milliseconds) with higher quality ad placement opportunities resultingin higher revenues per ad. That is advertisers will pay higheradvertising rates when they believe their ads are being placed in oralong with highly relevant content that is being presented to users.Reductions in the time needed to quantify a high quality ad placementoffers ad platforms competitive advantages. Thus, higher speeds and morerelevant context detection improve these technological fields.

For example, a process of buying or selling online advertisements mayinvolve a number of different entities, including advertisers,publishers, agencies, networks, or developers. To simplify this process,organization systems called “ad exchanges” may associate advertisers orpublishers, such as via a platform to facilitate buying or selling ofonline advertisement inventory from multiple ad networks. “Ad networks”refers to aggregation of ad space supply from publishers, such as forprovision en-masse to advertisers. For web portals like Yahoo! ®,advertisements may be displayed on web pages or in apps resulting from auser-defined search based at least in part upon one or more searchterms. Advertising may be beneficial to users, advertisers or webportals if displayed advertisements are relevant to interests of one ormore users. Thus, a variety of techniques have been developed to inferuser interest, user intent or to subsequently target relevantadvertising to users. One approach to presenting targeted advertisementsincludes employing demographic characteristics (e.g., age, income,gender, occupation, and the like) for predicting user behavior, such asby group. Advertisements may be presented to users in a targetedaudience based at least in part upon predicted user behavior(s).

Another approach includes profile-type ad targeting. In this approach,user profiles specific to a user may be generated to model userbehavior, for example, by tracking a user's path through a web site ornetwork of sites, and compiling a profile based at least in part onpages or advertisements ultimately delivered. A correlation may beidentified, such as for user purchases, for example. An identifiedcorrelation may be used to target potential purchasers by targetingcontent or advertisements to particular users. During presentation ofadvertisements, a presentation system may collect descriptive contentabout types of advertisements presented to users. A broad range ofdescriptive content may be gathered, including content specific to anadvertising presentation system. Advertising analytics gathered may betransmitted to locations remote to an advertising presentation systemfor storage or for further evaluation. Where advertising analyticstransmittal is not immediately available, gathered advertising analyticsmay be stored by an advertising presentation system until transmittal ofthose advertising analytics becomes available.

In some embodiments, users are able to access services provided byservers 106, 108, 120 and/or 130. This may include in a non-limitingexample, authentication servers, search servers, email servers, socialnetworking services servers, SMS servers, IM servers, MMS servers,exchange servers, photo-sharing services servers, and travel servicesservers, via the network 105 using their various devices 101-104.

In some embodiments, applications, such as a mail application (e.g.,Yahoo! Mail®, Gmail®, and the like), instant messaging application,blog, photo or social networking application (e.g., Facebook®, Twitter®and the like), search application (e.g., Yahoo!® Search), and the like,can be hosted by the application server 108, message server 120, orcontent server 106 and the like.

Thus, the application server 108, for example, can store various typesof applications and application related information includingapplication data and user profile information (e.g., identifying andbehavioral information associated with a user). It should also beunderstood that content server 106 can also store various types of datarelated to the content and services provided by content server 106 in anassociated content database 107, as discussed in more detail below.Embodiments exist where the network 105 is also coupled with/connectedto a Trusted Search Server (TSS) which can be utilized to render contentin accordance with the embodiments discussed herein. Embodiments existwhere the TSS functionality can be embodied within servers 106, 108, 120and/or 130.

Moreover, although FIG. 1 illustrates servers 106, 108, 120 and 130 assingle computing devices, respectively, the disclosure is not solimited. For example, one or more functions of servers 106, 108, 120and/or 130 may be distributed across one or more distinct computingdevices. Moreover, in one embodiment, servers 106, 108 and/or 130 may beintegrated into a single computing device, without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a client device showing anexample embodiment of a client device that may be used within thepresent disclosure. Client device 200 may include many more or lesscomponents than those shown in FIG. 2 . However, the components shownare sufficient to disclose an illustrative embodiment for implementingthe present disclosure. Client device 200 may represent, for example,client devices discussed above in relation to FIG. 1 .

As shown in the figure, Client device 200 includes a processing unit(CPU) 222 in communication with a mass memory 230 via a bus 224. Clientdevice 200 also includes a power supply 226, one or more networkinterfaces 250, an audio interface 252, a display 254, a keypad 256, anilluminator 258, an input/output interface 260, a haptic interface 262,an optional global positioning systems (GPS) receiver 264 and acamera(s) or other optical, thermal or electromagnetic sensors 266.Device 200 can include one camera/sensor 266, or a plurality ofcameras/sensors 266, as understood by those of skill in the art. Powersupply 226 provides power to Client device 200.

Client device 200 may optionally communicate with a base station (notshown), or directly with another computing device. Network interface 250is sometimes known as a transceiver, transceiving device, or networkinterface card (NIC).

Audio interface 252 is arranged to produce and receive audio signalssuch as the sound of a human voice. Display 254 may be a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), gas plasma, light emitting diode (LED), or any other typeof display used with a computing device. Display 254 may also include atouch sensitive screen arranged to receive input from an object such asa stylus or a digit from a human hand.

Keypad 256 may comprise any input device arranged to receive input froma user. Illuminator 258 may provide a status indication and/or providelight.

Client device 200 also comprises input/output interface 260 forcommunicating with external. Input/output interface 260 can utilize oneor more communication technologies, such as USB, infrared, Bluetooth™,or the like. Haptic interface 262 is arranged to provide tactilefeedback to a user of the client device.

Optional GPS transceiver 264 can determine the physical coordinates ofClient device 200 on the surface of the Earth, which typically outputs alocation as latitude and longitude values. GPS transceiver 264 can alsoemploy other geo-positioning mechanisms, including, but not limited to,triangulation, assisted GPS (AGPS), E-OTD, CI, SAI, ETA, BSS or thelike, to further determine the physical location of Client device 200 onthe surface of the Earth. In one embodiment, however, Client device maythrough other components, provide other information that may be employedto determine a physical location of the device, including for example, aMAC address, Internet Protocol (IP) address, or the like.

Mass memory 230 includes a RAM 232, a ROM 234, and other storage means.Mass memory 230 illustrates another example of computer storage mediafor storage of information such as computer readable instructions, datastructures, program modules or other data. Mass memory 230 stores abasic input/output system (“BIOS”) 240 for controlling low-leveloperation of Client device 200. The mass memory also stores an operatingsystem 241 for controlling the operation of Client device 200.

Memory 230 further includes one or more data stores, which can beutilized by Client device 200 to store, among other things, applications242 and/or other information or data. For example, data stores may beemployed to store information that describes various capabilities ofClient device 200. The information may then be provided to anotherdevice based on any of a variety of events, including being sent as partof a header (e.g., index file of the HLS stream) during a communication,sent upon request, or the like. At least a portion of the capabilityinformation may also be stored on a disk drive or other storage medium(not shown) within Client device 200.

Applications 242 may include computer executable instructions which,when executed by Client device 200, transmit, receive, and/or otherwiseprocess audio, video, images, and enable telecommunication with a serverand/or another user of another client device. Applications 242 mayfurther include search client 245 that is configured to send, toreceive, and/or to otherwise process a search query and/or searchresult.

Having described the components of the general architecture employedwithin the disclosed systems and methods, the components' generaloperation with respect to the disclosed systems and methods will now bedescribed below with reference to FIGS. 3-6 .

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the components for performing thesystems and methods discussed herein. FIG. 3 includes message deliveryengine 300, network 315 and database 320. The message delivery engine300 can be a special purpose machine or processor and could be hosted byan application server, content server, social networking server, webserver, email server, search server, content provider, third partyserver, user's computing device, and the like, or any combinationthereof.

According to some embodiments, message delivery engine 300 can beembodied as a stand-alone application that executes on a user device. Insome embodiments, the message delivery engine 300 can function as anapplication installed on the user's device, and in some embodiments,such application can be a web-based application accessed by the userdevice over a network. In some embodiments, the message delivery engine300 can be installed as an augmenting script, program or application(e.g., a plug-in or extension) to another application (e.g., Yahoo!Mail®).

The database 320 can be any type of database or memory, and can beassociated with a content server on a network (e.g., content server, asearch server or application server) or a user's device (e.g., device101-104 or device 200 from FIGS. 1-2 ). Database 320 comprises a datasetof data and metadata associated with local and/or network informationrelated to users, services, applications, content and the like. Suchinformation can be stored and indexed in the database 320 independentlyand/or as a linked or associated dataset. As discussed above, it shouldbe understood that the data (and metadata) in the database 320 can beany type of information and type, whether known or to be known, withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, database 320 can store data for users,e.g., user data. According to some embodiments, the stored user data caninclude, but is not limited to, information associated with a user'sprofile, user interests, user behavioral information, user attributes,user preferences or settings, user demographic information, userlocation information, user biographic information, and the like, or somecombination thereof. In some embodiments, the user data can also includeuser device information, including, but not limited to, deviceidentifying information, device capability information, voice/datacarrier information, Internet Protocol (IP) address, applicationsinstalled or capable of being installed or executed on such device,and/or any, or some combination thereof. It should be understood thatthe data (and metadata) in the database 320 can be any type ofinformation related to a user, content, a device, an application, aservice provider, a content provider, whether known or to be known,without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

According to some embodiments, database 320 can store data and metadataassociated with a user from an assortment of media and/or serviceproviders and/or platforms. For example, the information can be relatedto, but not limited to, content type or category, information associatedwith the sender or recipient(s) of a message, information associatedwith content included in a message, and any other type of known or to beknown attribute or feature associated with a message or content of amessage, or some combination thereof.

According to some embodiments, information related to, derived from orotherwise determined from analysis of messages addressed to and/orhosted within a user's inbox can be stored in database 320 asn-dimensional vector (or feature vector), where the informationassociated with each message can be translated as a node on then-dimensional vector for an inbox. In some embodiments, each message canhave its own vector where the information included therein can berepresented by the nodes on a respective vector. In some embodiments, asmessages are sent/received, detected and/or tracked, informationcorresponding thereto can also be stored in the database 320 in asimilar manner.

Database 320 can store and index inbox/message information in database320 as linked set of inbox/message data and metadata, where the data andmetadata relationship can be stored as the n-dimensional vector. Suchstorage can be realized through any known or to be known vector or arraystorage, including but not limited to, a hash tree, queue, stack, VList,or any other type of known or to be known dynamic memory allocationtechnique or technology. It should be understood that any known or to beknown computational analysis technique or algorithm, such as, but notlimited to, cluster analysis, data mining, Bayesian network analysis,Hidden Markov models, artificial neural network analysis, logical modeland/or tree analysis, and the like, and be applied to determine, deriveor otherwise identify vector information for messages within an inbox.

For purposes of the present disclosure, as discussed above, messages(which are stored and located in database 320) as a whole are discussedwithin some embodiments; however, it should not be construed to limitthe applications of the systems and methods discussed herein. That is,while reference is made throughout the instant disclosure to messages(e.g., email messages or other forms of electronic messages), otherforms of messages (e.g., social media messages, Instant Messages (IMs))and other mediums that display digital content information in whole orin part (e.g., a map), and the content included therein, including,text, audio, images, multimedia, RSS feed information, can be usedwithout departing from the scope of the instant application, which canthereby be communicated and/or accessed and processed by the messagedelivery engine 300 according to the systems and methods discussedherein.

As discussed above, with reference to FIG. 1 , the network 315 can beany type of network such as, but not limited to, a wireless network, alocal area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), the Internet, or acombination thereof. The network 315 facilitates connectivity of themessage delivery engine 300, and the database of stored resources 320.Indeed, as illustrated in FIG. 3 , the message delivery engine 300 anddatabase 320 can be directly connected by any known or to be knownmethod of connecting and/or enabling communication between such devicesand resources.

The principal processor, server, or combination of devices thatcomprises hardware programmed in accordance with the special purposefunctions herein is referred to for convenience as message deliveryengine 300, and includes message reception module 302, message storagemodule 304, user activity aggregator 306 and delivery module 308. Itshould be understood that the engine(s) and modules discussed herein arenon-exhaustive, as additional or fewer engines and/or modules (orsub-modules) may be applicable to the embodiments of the systems andmethods discussed. The operations, configurations and functionalities ofeach module, and their role within embodiments of the present disclosurewill be discussed below.

Turning to FIG. 4 , Process 400 provides an example data flow thatdetails embodiments of the disclosed framework for delivering electronicmessages to a recipient in an optimized manner based on currentreal-world and digital activities associated with the recipient. Asdiscussed herein in more detail, once a message sent by a sender isreceived by the message platform, the message and information related tothe recipient user's activity is analyzed, and a delivery condition forthe message is determined by the messaging platform. The platform thensends the message according to that delivery condition, such that it isdelivered to the user only upon the platform relaying the message incompliance with the condition (e.g., time, date and/or location value).

According to some embodiments of Process 400 of FIG. 4 , Steps 402-404of Process 400 are performed by the message reception module 302 of themessage delivery engine 300; Steps 406-408 are performed by the useractivity aggregator module 306; Step 410 is performed by the storagemodule 304; and Steps 412-416 are performed by the delivery module 308.

Process 400 beings with Step 402 where an incoming message sent by asender and addressed to an inbox of a recipient user is received by aserver (e.g., messaging server 120). In some embodiments, Step 402 andthe subsequent steps of Process 400 can be performed for each incomingmessage addressed to a recipient's inbox. The messages identify therecipient and include content, and in some embodiments, can include asender requested delivery date, which can be a date range for deliveryor a time-stop by which delivery is requested to have occurred.

In some embodiments, a message can have information included therein, oraccompanying it, that indicates that the message is being sent by anentity from which the recipient has subscribed. For example, a user hassigned up to receive promotional emails from Macy's®. Therefore,according to embodiments of the instant disclosure, the informationindicates that the message is being requested to be conditionallydelivered by the platform, whereby the steps of Process 400 aretriggered.

Thus, Step 402 can involve analyzing the message for such type ofinformation in order to proceed to Step 404. Identification of thisrequest causes the messaging server 120 to execute the steps of Process400, which results in the sender being charged an additional fee, whichis specific to the conditional delivery processing and occurrencediscussed herein. For example, marketers can be charged a premium forthe mail delivery service disclosed herein, but would not be if they didnot include such delivery request with their sent mail. Thus, absent thedelivery request, a sent message will be sent as a “normal message” freeof charge—i.e., messages that are delivered immediately after they aresent.

In some embodiments, as understood by those of skill in the art, thesteps of Process 400 can be performed by messages already delivered tothe inbox of the message, whereby the server is mining the inbox forpast messages that can be resurfaced in a user's inbox (e.g.,redelivered and/or marked as “unopened” to draw the user's attention tothem at the optimal timing). While the focus of the discussion hereinwill focus on incoming messages, one of skill in the art wouldunderstand that such mining for messages can be embodied throughexecution of the steps of Process 400 without departing from the scopeof the instant disclosure.

In Step 404, the received message is analyzed by engine 300 executing onthe server, and based on the analysis, the context of the message isdetermined, derived or otherwise identified. As understood by those ofskill in the art, the context can be a summary of the message, keywordsextracted from the message, or other forms of digital information thatindicate and/or represent the data included within the message.

In some embodiments, the incoming message and/or a set of messages (e.g.a message thread) analyzed by Process 400 can be a message(s) addressedto the user's inbox. The identification of the messages can be based oncriteria such that only a set of all the messages in the inbox areidentified.

According to some embodiments, such criteria can reference a type ofmessage (e.g., personal or commercial messages), the type of contentincluded in the message (e.g., text, audio, video, multi-media, and thelike), a context of the message (e.g., is the message related to apromotion, purchase receipt, expiring deal, future activity, and thelike), a time period, location associated with a message(s) (e.g., wherewas the message sent from, what location does the message reference,where was the message received, and the like), an identity of a sender,other recipients of a message (e.g., if it was a group message), whichplatform the message originated from (e.g., was it a message fromanother messaging platform), is the message unread, was the messageacted upon (e.g., was it forwarded, responded to, saved, categorized ordeleted), how was the message checked/read (e.g., did the user open andread the message from an application on his/her mobile device), howoften or recent (compared to a threshold) did the user contact orreceive correspondence from the sender/recipient, did the user sign upfor or subscribe to messages from that sender (as discussed above), andthe like, or some combination thereof.

Therefore, according to some embodiments, Step 404 can involve analyzingreceived or incoming messages according to the criteria and identifyinga message set (e.g., a single message or a plurality of messages) thatsatisfy the criteria. This enables engine 300 to efficiently analyze andprocess a smaller set of messages, as those messages not satisfying thecriteria are filtered out and automatically passed to the inbox withoutfurther processing, which alleviates the system from having to performunnecessary analysis of certain types of messages (e.g., messagessenders do not desire to have conditionally delivered or spam messages,and the like).

For example, Step 404 can involve determining that an incoming messageis sent by a third party commercial sender that provides an emailnewsletter that the user has subscribed to. For example, a user receives100 emails a day—therefore, engine 300 can identify a subset of thoseemails that are from commercial entities, thereby filtering out thosemessages that do not have a specific form of pertinent information—e.g.,a coupon, deal or promotional information included therein.

According to some embodiments, Step 404 can involve engine 300determining the context of the information referenced in the messagebased on language content in the message. In some embodiments, this canbe focused on the plain text of the message, and in some embodiments,this can alternatively or additionally involve the text withinmulti-media portions of the message. In some embodiments, engine 300 mayanalyze the language content by executing software defined by a naturallanguage processing (NLP) algorithm. An NLP algorithm, in oneembodiment, can use probabilistic methods to identify one or more topicsfrom the language content of the message. In some embodiments, engine300 may search for keywords within the language content, the keywordsbeing associated with particular topics.

In some embodiments, engine 300 can determine the context of theinformation referenced by the message based on a syntactic analysis or asematic analysis of the language content of the message. The syntacticanalysis may involve parsing the message into discrete components, suchas clause or phrases, where each component has a central idea (e.g., akeyword). The semantic analysis may involve identifying the central ideaof each discrete component identified through the syntactic analysis.

In some embodiments, the analysis of the messages by the engine 300 caninvolve the engine 300 implementing a parser on the backend in order toanalyze the information (e.g., sender information, text, images, audio,video and/or multimedia) of the message. The parser can be responsiblefor extracting any relevant content from the message using naturallanguage processing techniques, from which the context and messageinformation can be determined, derived or otherwise identified.

In Step 406, the user data stored in database 320 for the recipient ofthe message is identified. As understood by those of skill in the art,an identifier of the recipient identified from the received message andis then utilized to search for and identify the user data for therecipient.

As discussed above, the user data for the recipient includes, but is notlimited to, user interests, real-world and digital user behavioralinformation (past, present or future), user attributes, user preferencesor settings, user demographic information, user location information(past, present or future), user biographic information, and the like, orsome combination thereof. In some embodiments, the user data can alsoinclude user device information, including, but not limited to, deviceidentifying information, device capability information, applicationinformation indicating which application are installed, running and/orbeing used currently by the user (and when, where and why they are beingused), and/or any, or some combination thereof. The user data can bemade up of historical data and/or real-time data that is currently beingcollected and/or monitored.

In Step 408, the user data of the recipient is analyzed, and suchanalysis can be based on the context of the message. That is, in someembodiments, the user data is parsed based on the context data, andinformation within the user data that corresponds to the context isidentified. This provides an indication as to activity performed by theuser and/or information about the user that relates to the context.

For example, if the message's context is related to “fishing”, the userdata related to when the user is proximate to or at an outdoor store(e.g., Bass Pro Shops®, for example) can be identified.

In some embodiments, the user data can be analyzed without reliance onthe context data derived from Step 404. For example, the user data ofthe recipient indicates that the user typically opens his mailapplication every evening at 10 pm when she is at home.

Analysis of the user data, therefore, results in the determination ofthe delivery condition. That is, the analysis of the user data indicatesa timing of when the user is most likely to interact with the messagethereby leading to an increased open-rate for the message. The timingcan be indicative of a time value, date value, location value, or somecombination thereof.

For example, continuing with the above example, if a user receives amarketing email in the morning at 9 am, and is understood to read heremails at 10 pm when she is at home, then the delivery condition for themessage will be set at 10 pm. In some embodiments, the deliverycondition can also be tied to the user's home address, which can beidentified by any form of location coordinates, such as, but not limitedto, GPS data, latitude and longitude lines, and the like.

In Step 410, the message and the delivery condition are stored indatabase 320. The message and delivery condition are stored inassociation with one another such that when the message is retrieved,the conditional information for delivery can also be identified. Suchstorage can be based on a look-up table (LUT) or any other form ofindexing of a database, as understood by those of skill in the art.

In Step 412, the activities of the recipient user are then monitored inorder to determine when the delivery condition for the received, and nowstored message are satisfied. The types of activity that can betracked/monitored by engine 300 are similar to those activities that areidentified in Step 406 and analyzed in Step 408 (e.g., user data of therecipient).

In some embodiments, the monitoring of the recipient's activity can bebased on tracked real-world activity of the user. For example,real-world time, date and location information indicating where the useris, what the user's activity is, and a timing of such activity.

In some embodiments, the monitoring of the recipient's activity can bebased on tracked digital activities of the user. For example, whichapplications the user is using, when and for how long they are/wereopened, where, in the real-world, they were used, and other forms ofonline activity the user performs.

In some embodiments, engine 300 can request, ping, receive or otherwiseavail itself of data concerning a recipient's device in order to trackits real-world and/or digital activity. In some embodiments, themonitoring in Step 412 can be performed respective to the recipient'sdevice periodically, or continuously, which can result in the devicecommunicating data respective to its time, date and/or geographiclocational values to the messaging server 120.

In some embodiments, Step 412 can involve parsing the data identifiedduring the monitoring and searching for time, date, activity and/orlocation data that matches (in some embodiments to a threshold value)time, date, activity and/or location data of a stored message. If thereis no match, then Process 400 proceeds to Step 414 and repeats Steps 412as indicated in FIG. 4 . If a match is determined in Step 412, thenProcess 400 proceeds to Step 416.

In Step 416, the stored message is retrieved from storage, and in Step418 it is then automatically delivered to the recipient's device fordisplay within an interface of the recipient's inbox. In someembodiments, as discussed above, a “lag” or “buffer” time may be addedto the delivery in order to ensure that the recipient has time to openand/or view his/her inbox. For example, after determining that adelivery condition is satisfied, a 1 second delay may be institutedprior to the message's delivery, so that the user has time to open andview his/her inbox.

By way of a non-limiting example, for purposes of providing exampleembodiments of the disclosed systems and methods, user Bob signs up foremail messages from Macy's®. The following Monday, at 6 am, Macy's sendsit first message to user Bob, and the message has included thereininstructions to deliver the message by 7 pm. Upon receiving the message,the server determines that Bob usually arrives at work on Monday at 8am, and upon arriving at work, Bob opens his email application on hisphone. Therefore, the delivery condition for the message is setaccordingly.

In some embodiments, the delivery condition can be set for “8 am”. Insome embodiments, the delivery condition can be set for GPS coordinatesfor Bob's work location. In some embodiments, the delivery condition canbe set for an instance of Bob opening his mail application on Monday.And, in some embodiments, the delivery condition can be any combinationof the above—for example, {8 am, work GPS location, opening emailapplication}, which indicates that after when Bob opens his emailapplication, when at work, at least after 8 am, then the message is tobe delivered.

In another non-limiting example, the delivery condition is set for {8am, work GPS location, opening email application}, and Bob calls outsick that Monday. Therefore, the message would not typically bedelivered that day. However, since this would cause the email to bedelivered outside of the delivery request time period set by Macy's (7pm on Monday), the message will be set to be delivered at the latesttime possible within Macy's provided window—7 pm on Monday.

In some embodiments, despite Macy's request, the next time Bob is atwork {8 am, work GPS location, on Tuesday, opening email application}can be set as the delivery condition for delivery of the message. Insuch situations, according to some embodiments, the current real-timedata of the user (e.g., from Step 412) can cause the delivery conditionto be modified since it becomes apparent that the message would not bedelivered should the initial delivery condition maintain its originaldefinitions. Therefore, in some embodiments, the delivery conditioninformation stored in Step 410 would be modified, and the Process 400would continue by utilizing the modified delivery condition.

FIG. 5 is a work flow process 500 for serving related digital mediacontent based on the information associated with a conditionallydelivered message, as discussed above in relation to FIGS. 3-4 . In someembodiments, the content can be associated with or comprisingadvertisements (e.g., digital advertisement content). Such content caninclude or be based upon, but is not limited to, information associatedwith an object a user received in his/her mailbox (e.g., a message ordigital content included in a delivered message, for example), a contextof a user's activity on a network that caused the delivery, and the like(e.g., how did the user interact with a message or message information,and/or some combination thereof). Such information can be referred to as“message information” for reference purposes only.

Process 500 discusses embodiments for engine 300 to providefunctionality for mail systems to partner with third party entitiesenabling the entities to provide digital content for display within aninbox of a user based on the message information determined, discovered,derived or otherwise identified from Process 400, as discussed above.

As discussed above, reference to an “advertisement” should be understoodto include, but not be limited to, digital media content that providesinformation provided by another user, service, third party, entity, andthe like. Such digital ad content can include any type of known or to beknown media renderable by a computing device, including, but not limitedto, video, text, audio, images, and/or any other type of known or to beknown multi-media. In some embodiments, the digital ad content can beformatted as hyperlinked multi-media content that provides deep-linkingfeatures and/or capabilities. Therefore, while the content is referredas an advertisement, it is still a digital media item that is renderableby a computing device, and such digital media item comprises digitalcontent relaying promotional content provided by a network associatedthird party.

In Step 502, message information is identified. As discussed above, themessage information can be based any of the information utilized,determined and/or generated from/during the mail pre-processing anddelivery mechanisms outlined above with respect to FIGS. 3-4 . Forpurposes of this disclosure, Process 500 will refer to single deliveredmessage; however, it should not be construed as limiting, as any numberof messages used can form such basis, without departing from the scopeof the instant disclosure.

In Step 504, a context is determined based on the identified messageinformation. This context forms a basis for serving content related tothe message information. In some embodiments, the context can be inaccordance with whether a user interacted with the delivered message.

For example, on Monday, a user is sent a message an email from a localsports store for a promotion occurring this weekend. According to thediscussion above in relation to FIG. 4 , the message will be deliveredto the user's inbox on Friday night (since the promotion is for theweekend—Saturday and Sunday). The context of the message, according toStep 504, is based on the store's information and the type of deal beingoffered. Therefore, the context identified in Step 504 can be related to“sports gear”. This context can be leveraged in order to identifydigital content related to additional deals for the user at the localsports store, or at its competitors.

In some embodiments, the identification of the context from Step 504 canoccur before, during and/or after the analysis detailed above withrespect to Process 400, or it can be a separate process altogether, orsome combination thereof.

In Step 506, the determined context is communicated (or shared) with acontent providing platform comprising a server and database (e.g.,content server 106 and content database 107, and/or advertisement server130 and ad database). Upon receipt of the context, the server performs(e.g., is caused to perform as per instructions received from the deviceexecuting the engine 300) a search for a relevant digital content withinthe associated database. The search for the content is based at least onthe identified context.

In Step 508, the server searches the database for a digital contentitem(s) that matches the identified context. In Step 510, a content itemis selected (or retrieved) based on the results of Step 508. In someembodiments, the selected content item can be modified to conform toattributes or capabilities of the page, interface, message, platform,application or method upon which the content item will be displayed,and/or to the application and/or device for which it will be displayed.In some embodiments, the selected content item is shared or communicatedvia the application the user is utilizing to view, render and/orinteract with a message, text, media, content or object item. Step 512.In some embodiments, the selected content item is sent directly to auser computing device for display on the device and/or within the UIdisplayed on the device's display. In some embodiments, the selectedcontent item is displayed within a portion of the interface or within anoverlaying or pop-up interface associated with a rendering interfacedisplayed on the device. In some embodiments, the selected content itemcan be displayed as part of a coupon/ad clipping, coupon/adrecommendation and/or coupon/ad summarization interface.

For the purposes of this disclosure a module is a software, hardware, orfirmware (or combinations thereof) system, process or functionality, orcomponent thereof, that performs or facilitates the processes, features,and/or functions described herein (with or without human interaction oraugmentation). A module can include sub-modules. Software components ofa module may be stored on a computer readable medium for execution by aprocessor. Modules may be integral to one or more servers, or be loadedand executed by one or more servers. One or more modules may be groupedinto an engine or an application.

For the purposes of this disclosure the term “user”, “subscriber”“consumer” or “customer” should be understood to refer to a user of anapplication or applications as described herein and/or a consumer ofdata supplied by a data provider. By way of example, and not limitation,the term “user” or “subscriber” can refer to a person who receives dataprovided by the data or service provider over the Internet in a browsersession, or can refer to an automated software application whichreceives the data and stores or processes the data.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the methods and systems ofthe present disclosure may be implemented in many manners and as suchare not to be limited by the foregoing exemplary embodiments andexamples. In other words, functional elements being performed by singleor multiple components, in various combinations of hardware and softwareor firmware, and individual functions, may be distributed among softwareapplications at either the client level or server level or both. In thisregard, any number of the features of the different embodimentsdescribed herein may be combined into single or multiple embodiments,and alternate embodiments having fewer than, or more than, all of thefeatures described herein are possible.

Functionality may also be, in whole or in part, distributed amongmultiple components, in manners now known or to become known. Thus,myriad software/hardware/firmware combinations are possible in achievingthe functions, features, interfaces and preferences described herein.Moreover, the scope of the present disclosure covers conventionallyknown manners for carrying out the described features and functions andinterfaces, as well as those variations and modifications that may bemade to the hardware or software or firmware components described hereinas would be understood by those skilled in the art now and hereafter.

Furthermore, the embodiments of methods presented and described asflowcharts in this disclosure are provided by way of example in order toprovide a more complete understanding of the technology. The disclosedmethods are not limited to the operations and logical flow presentedherein. Alternative embodiments are contemplated in which the order ofthe various operations is altered and in which sub-operations describedas being part of a larger operation are performed independently.

While various embodiments have been described for purposes of thisdisclosure, such embodiments should not be deemed to limit the teachingof this disclosure to those embodiments. Various changes andmodifications may be made to the elements and operations described aboveto obtain a result that remains within the scope of the systems andprocesses described in this disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a server, amessage sent by a sender and addressed to an inbox of a recipient, saidmessage comprising digital content; analyzing, via the server, themessage, and based on said analysis, determining a context of thedigital content, said context comprising information indicating a typeof digital content included within the message; identifying, by theserver, user data associated with the recipient, said user datacomprising information indicating real-world and digital activityassociated with the recipient; analyzing, via the server, said user databy parsing said real-world and digital activity based on said determinedcontext, and identifying a portion of said user data that corresponds tosaid determined context; determining, via the server, a deliverycondition of the message based on said portion of user data; storing,via the server, the received message and information related to thedelivery condition in an associated database; monitoring, via theserver, activity of the recipient based on tracked real-world activityand tracked digital activities of the recipient; determining, via theserver, that the delivery condition is satisfied based on saidmonitoring; retrieving, via the server, said message from said database;and communicating, via the server, said message to the recipient inaccordance with the delivery condition.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: determining a lag time after a time associated withthe determination that the delivery condition is satisfied, the lag timeproviding a buffered delay for the communication of the message; andcommunicating the message based on the lag time.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the delivery condition can correspond to at least one of atime, a date, an activity of the recipient and an application used bythe recipient.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: performing,by the server, syntactic analysis of the type of content, said syntacticanalysis causing the type of content to be identified as an individualcomponent of the message.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:analyzing, by the server, said component, and based on said analysis,determining said context as being referenced by the component.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: analyzing, by the server, saidmessage, and based on said analysis, identifying an indicator indicatingthat said sender is requesting the server deliver the message accordingto a server applied delivery condition.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein said user data comprises historical and real-time data of therecipient.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein said sender is associatedwith a subscription service.
 9. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: receiving, by the server, from the recipient, a request tosign up for the subscription service provided by the sender.
 10. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: causing communication, by theserver over a network, of information related to said delivered messageto a third party platform to obtain a digital content item comprisingthird party provided digital content associated with said information;receiving, by the server over the network, said digital content item;and communicating, by the server, said digital content item to said userfor display in association with the delivered message.
 11. Anon-transitory computer-readable storage medium tangibly encoded withcomputer-executable instructions, that when executed by a server,perform a method comprising: receiving, by the server, a message sent bya sender and addressed to an inbox of a recipient, said messagecomprising digital content; analyzing, via the server, the message, andbased on said analysis, determining a context of the digital content,said context comprising information indicating a type of digital contentincluded within the message; identifying, by the server, user dataassociated with the recipient, said user data comprising informationindicating real-world and digital activity associated with therecipient; analyzing, via the server, said user data by parsing saidreal-world and digital activity based on said determined context, andidentifying a portion of said user data that corresponds to saiddetermined context; determining, via the server, a delivery condition ofthe message based on said portion of user data; storing, via the server,the received message and information related to the delivery conditionin an associated database; monitoring, via the server, activity of therecipient based on tracked real-world activity and tracked digitalactivities of the recipient; determining, via the server, that thedelivery condition is satisfied based on said monitoring; retrieving,via the server, said message from said database; and communicating, viathe server, said message to the recipient in accordance with thedelivery condition.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 11, further comprising: determining, by the server, alag time after a time associated with the determination that thedelivery condition is satisfied, the lag time providing a buffered delayfor the communication of the message; and communicating, by the server,the message based on the lag time.
 13. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the deliverycondition can correspond to at least one of a time, a date, an activityof the recipient and an application used by the recipient.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, furthercomprising: performing, by the server, syntactic analysis of the type ofcontent, said syntactic analysis causing the type of content to beidentified as an individual component of the message.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, furthercomprising: analyzing, by the server, said component, and based on saidanalysis, determining said context as being referenced by the component.16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11,further comprising: analyzing, by the server, said message, and based onsaid analysis, identifying an indicator indicating that said sender isrequesting the server deliver the message according to a server applieddelivery condition.
 17. A device comprising: a processor configured to:receive a message sent by a sender and addressed to an inbox of arecipient, said message comprising digital content; analyze the message,and based on said analysis, determine a context of the digital content,said context comprising information indicating a type of digital contentincluded within the message; identify user data associated with therecipient, said user data comprising information indicating real-worldand digital activity associated with the recipient; parse saidreal-world and digital activity based on said determined context;identify a portion of said user data that corresponds to said determinedcontext; determine a delivery condition of the message based on saidportion of user data; store the received message and information relatedto the delivery condition in an associated database; monitor activity ofthe recipient based on tracked real-world activity and tracked digitalactivities of the recipient; determine that the delivery condition issatisfied based on said monitoring; retrieve said message from saiddatabase; and communicate said message to the recipient in accordancewith the delivery condition.
 18. The device of claim 17, furthercomprising: determine a lag time after a time associated with thedetermination that the delivery condition is satisfied, the lag timeproviding a buffered delay for the communication of the message; andcommunicate the message based on the lag time.
 19. The device of claim17, wherein the delivery condition can correspond to at least one of atime, a date, an activity of the recipient and an application used bythe recipient.
 20. The device of claim 17, further comprising: performsyntactic analysis of the type of content, said syntactic analysiscausing the type of content to be identified as an individual componentof the message; and analyze said component, and based on said analysis,determine said context as being referenced by the component.